Woodlan’s Trevor Wallace drives in past the defense to score the first touchdown. More pictures at westbendnews.net
WOODBURN – Jack Rhoades ran for 257 yards on 33 carries and the Woodlan Warriors advanced to the sectional championship with a 32-8 victory over visiting Wabash Friday night.
Rhoades had touchdown runs of two yards, three yards and 16 yards as Woodlan scored first and never looked back in getting the victory.
Justin Durkes hooked up with Trevor Wallace on a seven-yard scoring strike to open the game’s scoring in the first quarter before Rhoades’ two-yard run made it 12-0 Woodlan at halftime.
The Warriors then opened the game up in the third quarter on a pair of touchdown runs.
Durkes scooted 63-yards to push the Woodlan lead to 18-0 before Rhoades added his three-yard plunge for a score to give the Warriors a 25-0 advantage entering the final quarter.
Wabash closed within 25-8 on a 25-yard fumble recovery return by Austin Haynes but that would be it for the Apache scoring.
Rhoades completed the game’s scoring on a 16-yard run to set the final margin at 32-8.
Reggie Blackmon and Durkes each ran for 44 yards as well for the Warriors, who totaled 345 yards on the ground in the contest. Durkes was three of seven passing on the night for 58 yards.
Dane Castleman paced the Woodlan defense with ten tackles while Jack Stuckey posted seven stops and two tackles for a loss.
Ahlan Howard, Tyler Turnwald and Amarion Hicks all had interceptions for Woodlan.
The host Warriors improved to 9-2 with the victory as Woodlan moves on to host Central Noble in Friday’s sectional championship. The Cougars come into the game with a record of 8-3 and defeated Bluffton 54-14 in sectional semifinal play.
Central Noble dropped its final two regular season games to Eastside (21-7) and Garrett (29-13) after a six-game winning streak in the middle part of the season. The Cougars, though, are averaging 55 points a game in sectional play with wins over Whitko (56-8) and Bluffton.
